Child-Centered Group Play Therapy with African American Boys at the Elementary School Level

Baggerly, Jennifer; Parker, Max

Journal of Counseling & Development, v83 n4 p387 Fall 2005

African American boys face numerous challenges in society within the United States, including prejudice, discrimination, racism, economic hardship, limited access to support services, educational biases, and community violence. According to Pierce (1988), the psychic assault of subtle racism against African American boys erode their self-confidence and has a negative cumulative psychological impact across their developmental life span. The purpose of this article is threefold: (1) it identifies components of an African worldview and components of building self-confidence in African American boys in elementary school; (2) it describes the application of child-centered group play therapy with 22 African American boys in elementary school; (3) it presents verbal data from play therapy sessions to illustrate how child-centered play therapy honors the African worldview and facilitates self-confidence. When child-centered group play therapy is implemented as the authors have described it, it is a culturally sensitive and developmentally appropriate approach that honors the African worldview and builds self-confidence in African American boys in elementary school. Therefore, the authors recommend continued implementation of as well as research related to this intervention with African American boys.